Inexorable
by VickyVicarious
Summary: Hi. I’m Paul Slater, and I’m going to do whatever the hell I want in this life. Deal with it. -Paul/Suze, Paul POV-


Suze doesn't get it. She thinks I'm just evil, just the bad guy – and I may very well be. After all, I don't really give a damn about any of those bleeding-heart ghost cases she takes on; they had a whole lifetime to work things out, after all. All I ever want is things for myself; money, girls, all the classic rich whatnots. I plan to be a lawyer, and not the type that valiantly defends the little guy, either.

So, yeah. Maybe I am the bad guy. I wouldn't call myself _evil_, though. I just look out for my own interests. Maybe I wouldn't fling myself under a bus to save some random stranger. Are you going to condemn me for that?

Suze will, apparently. She just doesn't understand the way I think. She doesn't get it. That's because she is the stereotypical martyr. She _would_ fling herself under the bus, or in front of the bullet, or off the cliff, if it saved someone else.

Well, that's nice, really it is. But she doesn't have any right to try to foist that thinking on me, no more than I have the right to foist mine on her.

Too bad I don't care about rights.

She's just like me, that's the thing. Deep down, we're the same, despite our obvious differences, and she knows it. She knows it and she always tries to deny it, because she thinks of me as the evil guy and she doesn't want to associate herself with that.

Again: okay. Fine. That's what _she_ thinks. I… I am here to teach her the truth.

Oh, and incidentally to get her to go out with me, because I've never really lied to her. And I hate Jesse's ghostly guts, and I never can comprehend exactly what the _hell_ she thinks she's doing. It's all logical enough, really: he's a freaking _ghost_. Some undead cowboy from a hundred years back. He can't take her anywhere, he can't do anything with her in public, and he could disappear into the ether at any given moment, practically. When I say that he couldn't give her what she needs, that isn't just some teenage jealousy talking; and if you need proof, that Father Dominic of hers agrees with me.

She's so hung up on that idiot, and I've never understood why. But that's okay, for now. It's just become one more thing I need to reeducate her about.

Suze is just like me. She can deny it all she wants, but it's true. She's a shifter and not some lackey for every asshole who lost his cat the day he died. She's smart and strong and she has powers she isn't even dreaming of yet, just waiting for her to make use of. She's _human_, and beautiful, and she belongs with _me_.

It's all just a matter of time. I know this for a fact, no matter what she says or does.

I know it because she'll come to the shifter lessons. Because she isn't telling her priest or her precious ghostie what's going on – I don't even know if Rico Suave knows I'm back in town. Probably not, or he'd have already tried to come break my nose again.

I know it because – most of all, and definitely most _enjoyable_ of all – she kisses back. She resists, pushes away, says no – but when I push back, when I press her down on my bed over priceless old documents and kiss her as hard as I can, with everything I've got…

She _melts_. She whimpers and writhes and kisses me _back_, and she grabs onto my shoulders and tugs me close, and god, it's all I can do not to take right then and there. She kisses me like I'm her only lifeline, like she's totally lost in the moment, and it's hot and fast and desperate and I just burn with this _feeling_; indescribable but exhilarating, and _just right_ and sometimes I think that those moments are all I'm living for.

And I always go too far, or something brings her back to her senses, and she'll shove me away – I don't always realize; I'm usually caught up in the moment, but can you blame me? – and if necessary she'll hurt me (two words: my _eye_), but that's okay. I'm no masochist, but this I'll gladly take.

Why? Because every time, it lasts a bit longer. I'm wearing her down, that Suze Simon, and someday she's going to snap. It's all building up, and she's getting tired, I can tell. I've got her trapped right where I want her, and there's nothing she can do to get away. She will be mine, like I said earlier; it's all just a matter of time.

So go ahead, Suze. Call me the bad guy while you can; I'll gladly play the villain in your little drama.

Because _this_ time, the villain's going to win. The game, the girl, you name it. It's all coming my way.

Hi. I'm Paul Slater, and I'm going to do whatever the hell I want in this life. Deal with it.

* * *

Because though I can't deny Jesse/Suze, Paul never gets the love he deserves. Oh, and because he's kind of pushy about making himself heard; he wouldn't leave me alone until I got this down.


End file.
